BLDGBLOG Goes To California…

Well, BLDGBLOG has taken to the road, now typing to you from California. 10 days in LA, Death Valley, Owens Lake, San Francisco… back March 8th, assuming my plane doesn’t crash. Till then, in lieu of regular posting, I’ve put together a table of contents for new readers, old readers, bored readers, impatient readers – so click around, see what interests you, leave comments, forward to others, have fun. And if you have tips for what to do out here, of course, leave a comment below… Thanks!

What day(s) are you passing through SF? If your schedule isn’t already unreasonably stuffed, and on the odd chance you’ll be anywhere within reasonable mass transit distance of the Financial District, I’d happily stake you lunch.

You know, this may sound tacky but you might find yourself needing to go to THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE in San Jose. The traffic is just awful in and around San Jose for much of the time but this old mansion, built by an old woman whose family got rich on Winchester repeating rifles. She supposedly based its building plans on the advice of ghosts (people killed by Winchester product). Stairways to nowhere, odd rooms, etc.

It’s a hokey tourist trap right now (the gift store is where they start and end the tour) but it’s really worth seeing, architecturally and creatively.

Wow, this is great. Tim, I was actually at the MJT about two years ago, loved it, really loved it, and I love the Weschler book about it, which I highly recommend to anyone at all, especially if you like BLDGBLOG. But I didn’t make it this time; we were in LA for about… 14 hours. Some of which was spent sleeping. But I did buy a biography of Philip K. Dick in Santa Monica… And I went to the Nomadic Museum, near the pier. Patrick, funnily enough, the Underground Gardens were actually on the itinerary, but a visit to their website before arriving implies that they’re closed for the season on the day that I would’ve been driving through Fresno. (Driving through… not staying). So I have avoided Fresno now – unfortunately, tonight that puts us in the less than amazing town of Bakersfield, which appears to be a city entirely made of hotels, parking lots and shopping centers, through which you have to navigate using complicated systems of U-turns. I’ve eaten a burrito and found wireless in my hotel. Watching *MythBusters*. Hot times indeed. Yesterday in Death Valley; expect some photos posted soon, I think.

And, Chad, I’m heading SF-ward and the Bay Model sounds really cool, will consider it. Sounds great, even. Thanks! Didn’t even know about that, actually. Hydrology is my second or third largest secret love affair. And, lab rat, I was actually just talking about the Winchester House, we might go. Traffic and touristy gimmicks aside, it sounds interesting. But I missed LA’s Union Station and the Caltrans building… But thanks for the tips!

Finally, sz, I’ll send you an email.

And anyone passing through Death Valley look for the insane mountain on the western flank of the Panamint Range, overlooking the dead lake and facing the Argus Range, it’s all belts, torque and stratigraphy, black marble, a stalled mineral engine, polished loops of earth burning in the air and pressure of constant sunlight. Anyway, thanks again! –

Hey,Since I’m nowhere near California I’ve no sightseeing suggestions for Jeff, but for the rest of us here’s a link to pass the time while we’re waiting for his return:InteractiveArchitecture.orgSome of the posts are quite interresting. This one, or this one for instance.

Come and visit Stamen if you have the time. We have real-life examples of the USGS maps you love to drool over (no drooling on the maps, please, they’re paper) & taxicab visualizations & a fridge full of Tecate.

in sf take the muni from civic center outbound on klm, n, or j linestunnels used are snuck into at night by graffiti painters, some pretty good, some dreckget a day pass for all transit in sf incl cable cars, muni trains, buses, & bart w/i city at powell street cable car turn around and muni/bart station kiosk just off market st.

And here I thought I’d be clever by hijacking the comments in Geoff’s absence… but I’ve been beaten to it by you lot!

However, I have an actual post to supplement the reading list, and one that Geoff will wish to develop in his own inimitable way with a fully-fledged series of food-based architecture. Okay, I know there’s already a them on that topic, so here’s one more entry in the field. But lest you think it’s edible architecture that you can nibble your way through, producing voids, indigestion and voids with the products of indigestion, let me tell you that the biscuits are all stale. Well, you’d expect them to be stale, but apparently they’ve been eaten, so Biscuit City is no more.

“All manner of biscuits and bright jelly bean type sweets have been used in the construction, but wafers seem to be the main building blocks of choice.”

“Many of the wafers were made by Loacker, an Italian company who seem to specialise in them. These seemed to have been chosen for their length as much as anything, about twice that of a pink wafer, finding their way into various bridges and arches. The Pink wafers had been used sparingly, probably they’re too garish even for use as building blocks.”